Part 12 (1/2)
”What about the son, Gnaeus Pompey?”
”What about him?”
”Is he your ally? What did you owe hi”
”Good I mean to kill him And I would not have you be my enemy thereby” He said ”Ifishi+ng” Then I re once that Caesar had threatened a Ro him with questions about treasury funds, and that Caesar had then added, ”And this, you know, young reeable for me to say than to do” Suddenly the story was absolutely believable
”Do as you like,” I heardme permission?” he said ”Kind of you”
”I am not here to discuss Pompey I am here because I have been unlawfully deposed froht My brother and his advisors are evil--”
He winced ”Please That word is overused Suffice it to say I don't care for them or for their manner of operation: inept and without honor You shall have your throne back, never fear I shall see to it” He paused ”As you said, boldness brings rewards And you have proved most bold”
”I thank you,” I said But could I trust his word?
”Now all that is over,” he said, s at last, ”do I have your hand, as rasped it in both his I was surprised to find that he had small hands ”You will find my loyalty to be absolute,” I said
”A rare co Ptolemies”
Now he seemed to have switched into another personality His brittle demeanor had softened, but his dark brown eyes were still wary He sat relaxed, and his hand was nowhere near his sword ”I wish to believe you,” he said with all sincerity ”I myself always keep my word, but until now I have found no fellow in that”
”You will see,” I assured hi after his dying breath
”Yes,” he said with that sa the Cilician pirates who kidnapped me that I would return and kill thes with theood company around the camphre But I kept my word”
I shuddered ”Do you ? I ive ood and bad”
”What about your e vows?” I blurted out How could the notorious adulterer claie is concerned, it is a different e vows are trampled on But I was faithful to Cornelia” ”The wife of your youth,” I said
”Yes I loved her Perhaps that is a capacity that one loses with age” He said it regretfully, and I ale of fifty is loyalty and love for one's fellow soldiers”
”Do not think that way!” I hearddefeated in a battle!”
Now he broke out into a true smile, not a half one ”Wait until you are defeated in a battle before you say that There is nothing nothing worse than being defeated in battle” worse than being defeated in battle”
”Spoken like the conqueror of the world,” I said, staring at him He as the conqueror of the world, the new Alexander Yet here he sat on a chair in e man ”I hope you will utterly defeat my brother and his army!” the conqueror of the world, the new Alexander Yet here he sat on a chair in e man ”I hope you will utterly defeathas happened I have been sightseeing in yourin lectures, reading in the Library The Egyptian arainst you you on the eastern frontier” on the eastern frontier”
”When they find I have slipped through, they will be here soon enough” ”Then I shall have quite a challenge I have only four thousand men with me, and thirty-five shi+ps I understand there are twenty thousand yptian army I am outnumbered five to one” He said it cheerfully ”We shall defeat them!” I said fiercely
”But in the meantime I shall send for reinforcehed ”Let me show you your quarters, Imperator,” I said ”I aain,” he said He crossed his lean arms ”I would appreciate that,” I admitted ”I can find you very co adjacent to the temple of Isis” ”No, I meant that you should live here with me”
”With you? To share your couch?” Here it came, as I had expected The conqueror must take all the spoils
”Couches are uncomfortable I prefer a bed Show it to ?”
”On the couch I aiting for you before I used the bed”
”You aiting for me?” I was disappointed Had I not surprised hi to hih enemy lines?
”I was I was informed that you were resourceful, clever, and passionate--at least that is what your enemies claimed! That et to Alexandria, were I in your place; I believed that you would, also, although I could not predict whatthat if you came as I expected you to do, I would salute and admire you for it And want you And only then would I wish to use the bed Show it toinstantaneously
The astonishi+ng thing was, I wanted to The terrible chore, the awful sacrifice--it was not to be that way This was entirely unexpected I could not explain it to myself
”Come with me,” I said ”Folloherever I take you” I took his hand, liking the feel of it
”That is not so”
We were traversing the rooeneral audience chamber and the innermost one of the royal bedchao no step farther until you swear to me that this is of your own volition,” he said in a very soft voice ”What I said in the audience chaer I will support your clai to do with me personally” He paused ”I have never touched a woman who did not wish me to”
”It is is my desire and wish,” I assured him It was true, but I could not understand it This ht-or left-handed Perhaps that was the thrill of it my desire and wish,” I assured him It was true, but I could not understand it This ht-or left-handed Perhaps that was the thrill of it
But no, I deceiveat hi, his lean and tanned face--ly stroked anything besides an anis,before h the rooms They were in darkness, except for a few corners where standing oil lamps had been lit
We walked on onyx floors, slippery beneath our feet, with the la but faintly in them, past pale rooms covered in ivory panels I could hear the low hiss and murmur of the sea outside the eastern s Still I led him on wordlessly, I Orpheus and he Eurydice, until we reached o The bed coverlet, steeped in rich Tyrian dye, looked brown, not purple, in theoutside the , as if it hastened away and would not look
Now, suddenly, I was at a loss as to what to do I had brought him here, but this was so formal, so abrupt It almost seemed like an initiation ceremony, one of the mysteries that were celebrated in secret rites And it was a secret rite of which I was ignorant What was I thinking of?
Caesar stood still, like a statue And then I said--the thought suddenly ca an ebony-inlaid trunk, I took out the ancient robes that the ruler kept in readiness for cereold thread, heavy with encrusted jewels, and woven with rare glistening colors
”I am not a God,” he said quietly, as I draped the robe over his shoulders ”Yet in Ephesus I was hailed as one” There was a wistfulness in his voice, faint, yet there
”Tonight you are a God,” I said ”You will come to me as Amun”
”And you? Who are you?”
”Isis,” I said My ceremonial robes were also at hand
”Can we not merely be Julius Caesar and Cleopatra?” I had to strain to hear his voice